GECOM replies to Freddie Kissoon

Aug 13, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
Many have documented that Mr. Frederick Kissoon does not carry out research before making unwarranted, sometimes scandalous, statements about institutions and persons.
In a column (dated August 6, 2016) titled “What kind of authority Surajbali has at GECOM” (sic), Mr. Kissoon – without ascertaining the facts – jumps to make comment on and support statements that were penned by one Peter Persaud, who himself did not acquaint himself deeply enough about an issue concerning non-payment by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to three persons who claim that monies are owed them by GECOM.
The use of common sense might have deterred both gentlemen from making the inaccurate accusation. GECOM, over decades, but especially during the last fifteen years of Periodic Registration Cycles (with the concomitant Residency Verifications) and four Elections would have engaged scores of thousands of temporary staff and service providers. If, suddenly, three persons emerge with the claim that GECOM owes them money (three of over one hundred thousand), that alone should send up the proverbial red flag that any purported non-payment of owed monies might have very patent and salient reasons, which, by the way, were explained to Mr. Peter Persaud.
The payment issue of the three transportation providers in Mabaruma mentioned in the letter written by Mr Peter Persaud August 5, 2016 and in the column written by Frederick Kissoon, August 6, 2016, has been resolved. The Chief Election Officer (CEO) is not only the legal custodian of GECOM’s finances and the Accounting Officer, but his management of GECOM’s finances is monitored by the Commission, the National Assembly’s, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Auditor General. The CEO cannot pay out monies without due diligence associated with the payments.
Although we may understand Mr. Kissoon’s “deepest emotional rage” at the “social morbidities of this country”, he is well advised to carefully separate glaring parasitic and exploitative practices from those purveyed by genuinely people-friendly organizations such as GECOM. Relative to the “kind of authority” the GECOM Chairman has, Mr. Kissoon might refer to the laws that govern the Chairman and Commission.
Tamara Rodney,
Public Relations Officer

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